This invention relates to coin processing apparatuses.
In general, in a coin processing apparatus, coins on a rotary disk are centrifugally fed into a coin passage extending from the periphery of the rotary disk, and the coins thus fed are aligned and conveyed along the coin passage so as to be counted.
In the conventional coin processing apparatus, the speed of the rotary disk is constant regardless of the flow rate of the coins in the coin passage. Therefore, as the number of the coins on the rotary disk decreases it becomes difficult to continuously feed the coins into the coin passage, and accordingly the flow rate of the coins in the coin passage is decreased, which leads to a waste of time in processing the coins. If the rotary disk is rotated at high speed initially in order to shorten the period of time required for processing coins, a large number of coins are forcibly fed into the coin passage, which may cause coin jamming at the entrance of the coin passage or in the coin passage. Furthermore, if coins are delivered into a coin stacking cylinder in a coin wrapping machine operating to wrap a stack of coins at high speed, the coins may be stacked irregularly in the coin stacking cylinder, that is, some coins may be set upright for instance. Accordingly, in this case it is impossible to wrap the coins. Thus, feeding coins at high speed may result in problems, which lead to the suspension of the coin processing operation.
In the case where the speed of the rotary disk is constant at all times, the flow rate of coins in the coin passage varies depending on the diameters of coins to be processed, and accordingly the period of time required for counting a prescribed number of coins to be wrapped as one package is dependent on the diameters of coins, as a result of which the period of time required for stacking coins is also dependent on their diameters.